By Onyeche Igwe
A former Akwa Ibom North West Senator, Chris Ekpenyong, has said that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, does not have the oxygen to destabilise the Peoples Democratic Party.
Ekpenyong said Wike is just taking advantage of the deviation from the vision and mission of the party’s founding fathers, adding that such deviation has given governors of the party power to become taller than the party itself.
The former lawmaker stated this while reacting to Wike’s threat in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Uyo, the state capital.
Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, threatened to cause a crisis in PDP-controlled states if the governors did not stop meddling in the affairs of the state.
He said, “Asking me about a very young man who, peradventure, came to be initiated into a political party and grew from the ranks of being the chairman of a local government through the instrumentality of his boss, Dr Peter Odili, and become what whatever he became.
“He now says he wants to fight the stem. You know, everything has a stem. I will not join issues with him, but I think he is taking advantage of it because our party has deviated from what was supposed to be the vision and mission of its founding fathers. Otherwise, you would not see anyone who became a governor of the PDP now becoming taller than the party; it would not have been, but I am yet to see how he will fight.
“It will be a surprise to say whether PDP is alive. PDP has gone into a cocoon; it’s yet to be revived, and he thinks he has the oxygen to fight, but I think he does not.”
The former Akwa Ibom Deputy Governor lamented that the PDP has collapsed because it has allowed itself to be swallowed by state governors.
Speaking on what led to the party’s collapse, Ekpenyong said the party, which was based on social justice and fairness, suddenly became a party of imposition as leadership no longer comes from the people.
According to him, “PDP is a national party where in every nooks and crannies of Nigeria you find it there, and it was a party that was predicated on social justice and fairness, and that means you cannot just hand pick, you must go through a process, and you must be the people’s desire.
“It will not be a party of imposition, a party where you are a governor and you become a tin god, but today, PDP has been swallowed by governors, and the leadership no longer comes from the people.”
